Trip Date: November 2, 2020
Find this SpotWell, we were really getting down to it now. Last year, our first with the property, we had our last trip up in early November. Steve and I came up to ready things for winter, cover piles of materials, take home our tools and whatever we didn’t want to leave behind, and put in the 6 water bars on the road. The weather was fantastic that trip; warm days and cool nights. It has now become the standard for end of the year trips.
So it was that Mike and I figured we would come again in early November, this time, with a much longer to-do list, but with the added bonus of being away for the election night chaos and the noise that surely would follow for a week or so after. It was great driving up with a minimal load beyond the 55 gallons of water. With the cold nights, I didn’t get dry ice either, so we would rely on the frozen water bottles and 2o pounds of cubes.
Once again, Kristen shopped and cooked and prepared a whole bunch of food for me, including home-made cup cakes and left over Halloween candy. I was well stocked. I blew up 80 to 89, and into Sierra Valley. I left a couple messages for Dennis while driving up 395 before taking the A3 cutoff, to gas up in Standish, then the final hour to the property. I was up top by about 1:30 and immediately lost all interest in work.
I had a beverage and called Kristen. Had another beverage and looked at the internet. Finally, I got to unloading and moving my stuff into the cabin. It was the first trip to move my stuff in there without it still being a construction site. I opened the 2 windows and the breeze came in and it was so warm from the sun coming through all that glass; I could easily have taken a nap. I got the kitchen set up and unloaded my ice-chest into the freezer. Just then, Mike rolled up.
His rig sounded like Chitty-chitty Bang-bang as the muffler and /or entire exhaust system was loose and rattly. But he made it and had a full load. Once he was set up in the trailer and his food was stored away, it was just about cocktail time. With Fall right on schedule and daylight savings in effect, it got dark real early this time of year. We heated up the enchiladas Kristen made for us and listened to the Monday night football game. Mike barely made it through the first quarter before heading off to bed.
It definitely was cooling down, but it was clam, the stars and Milky Way were blazing, and a nice little fire kept me cozy. The moonrise above McDonald Peak was exceptional. It rose yellow through the horizon and some thin wispy clouds, and then shone brightly, outshining all but the brightest stars and planets. With a Tampa victory at hand, it was time for bed.
Sleep was sporadic as the first night often is. Too hot, too cold, deflated pad, excessive peeing, not enough noise, clean air, strange rustling and scratching from underneath the cabin. The morning, as almost always, was calm and beautiful. It was still cool by the time we were ready to get going so we decided to let the caulking warm up a bit and instead got to the bracing for the East end of the trailer cover. The peak of the roof is some 15’ off the ground, so I wasn’t looking forward to being that high up on the ladder for this job.
I pulled my truck broadside in front of the cover and got the extension ladder in the bed. It seemed to make things not so high above the ground, and provided a level, stable footing. My new drill bit worked like a charm, and we had the peak hole drilled in no time. We discussed a few placement options for the arms, and finally decided on the original concept. We got the holes drilled in the braces, but I kept forgetting to drill the holes in the legs, which was a much harder, thicker metal.
It didn’t take all that much time, and we had all the pieces level, in place, and finger tight. Being up on the ladder, we thought we would give the camouflage netting a shot, but we weren’t quite ready. The piece we had was only one half of it, so we struggled to get it to cover the entire end, and side, and hang down to where we wanted it because we only had half the material. After struggling for some time, and the wind picking up, and patience wearing thin, we decided to give it a break.
After a little break time, we got to the caulking which went as smoothly as anticipated. Only being 4 or so feet off the ground was much preferable. We had 2 caulking guns and plenty o’tubes and gloves, so we went right through it. It was warm and sunny and easy work, so it wasn’t long before we met on the back side to fill the last of the gaps between panel and trim and window glass. There was much rejoicing.
After a late lunch, we set about caulking the gutters and downspout, and setting it into the 1100 gallon water tank. The super cool metal screens we got for the 16” opening fit perfectly, and we had it set up in place in no time. We were officially collecting water in 2020. This was a good place to stop and we had done a lot, so we called it for day one. I showered in the trailer and Mike took a quick nap, before getting ready for dinner.
We BBQ’d steaks, and sautéed a delicious medley of mini potatoes and banana squash in herbed better. Oh my. After dinner, I dumped the remaining coals into the fire pit and started a nice little fire. Again, the night was spectacular; calm, cool, clear. Milky Way and stars everywhere. I listened to my music from my Ipod and was pleasantly surprised by Brittany Howard and The Bros. Landreth. By their end, my end was near as well. Sleep was very good.
The next morning was full of excitement. The trip was going great, and I was again excited to get to it. We decided to let the chain saw fluids warm up a bit so we took advantage of the calm morning to take down the camouflage we put up yesterday and tie the other piece onto it. With a much better approach and a length big enough for the job, we got it into place fairly easily. Mike tied off the sides and I attached the strings to the screw heads up top as best we could. The bracing we had just put up served as a perfect bottom to attach to. We were much pleased.
It went so well, we figured we would stick with the theme and add a piece to the front/North side of the kitchen roof. This went up in no time and we were happy with the results. After a little break, we decided to get after the tree trimming above the kitchen roof so as to minimize the amount of debris that would fall onto it. It went fairly smooth for the most part, but of course, you always want to reach out a little farther, extend a little more, climb up a tad higher. I quit before calamity arrived and was most pleased with the job.
Mike helped me sweep off the roof and then rinse out the gutter until we had a nice clean surface. After lunch, we attached a length of gutter and arranged the 2nd 1100 gallon water tank in place such that the gutter would act somewhat like a sluice box to carry the water collected from the roof, into the gutter, down the sluice run and into the tank. We had to remove more rock than we had hoped, but we made a nice smooth, semi-level resting spot for the water tank, and secured our reach of gutter securely, and we now had 2200 gallons of water collection capability in place.
This was a good place to quit for the day, even though it wasn’t 3:00 yet. We took advantage of the short day to rest and clean up and prepare for a big day 3 of our winter preparation trip. We both hoped to come up again, even if it was cold and just for a short stay; one night even, but we could pick up a few more things that might be better to not winter over on the hill, and just have a little more time to eyeball everything and make certain we were comfortable with how we were leaving everything for the 5 months or so we would not be back to the property.
Properly cleaned and dressed, it was soon cocktail hour, and we decided on saaaaaaaaaaaausages, left over chicken enchiladas, and a delicious zucchini and onion combo. The Bockwurst were kind of smoked, and even though they split open like they almost always do, they were extra tasty with the smoke flavor. Mike got his free Sirius radio to work somehow (possibly from the water we slopped over the roof), and so he found a Tom Petty channel, that worked for me all night. Again with the small fire of cedar shingles to keep one small log burning clean, stars aplenty, then moonrise, then nightcap.
Each night’s sleep was better and better. I got up refreshed and ready to rock. We already had accomplished about as much I had thought possible, and it had all gone incredibly smoothly. Today we would make a shitter day; paint the 2 water tanks, adjust the angle of the gutter, clean off the roof, and secure both tanks for the winter. When we removed the large tank on the backside, we saw that the shingles had not been installed behind it, so we knocked that out as well, and still it was barley lunchtime.
After a couple beverages and much consideration, we decided to try to knock out cleaning out the 6 water bars we have on the road. The day was beautiful and we had plenty of time, it was just the energy that was a tad low. But, starting at the top, on the one that was in the worst shape, we got it nice and clear and enlarged a bit, ready for a good winter’s precipitation. Each successive one got a little easier; less rock, less hard digging, more soft soil and easier scraping. By the time we were down at the bottom, it was much easier work and we were almost certain we had addressed all 6 water bars.
The walk back up was strenuous and long. We celebrated finding all 6 water bars cleaned out and prepared for winter. It was another huge day of accomplishment without a lot of hustle and bustle. It all just went really smooth and easy and the check list was taking a beating.
I was tired after this one so it took a little more time to muster the effort to get in the shower, but oh my god, are those hot showers great. I felt so great after each one; it made all the difference in making the evenings so enjoyable and sleep so restful. Tonight the menu included a skirt steak, and a combo of the mini taters, zucchini, and red peppers. The steak was delicious; it was all delicious, except for the pounding the Niners took from the Pack on Thursday Night Football. It was awesome to listen to as Kristen loaded her Sirius subscription onto my phone. We even got to listen to Papa and Tim Ryan do the Niners broadcast, for what it was. I ate many an M&M in my misery.
We had been tracking the weather closely as it was supposed to deteriorate Friday morning, and so it did. The rain was a little more significant than the predictions, but it was also way more awesome. I woke up to it about 6:00 so I just laid in bed and watched and listened. Eventually I got up and packed up my bedding and clothes. By that time, the rain had become a drizzle at best, so I headed on down the road to tend to my business and enjoy the renewed colors and sweet smell the rain brought to the land.
It stopped raining completely and we had a great morning to pack up and get ready to leave. The clouds and sky were awesome, but a constant reminder that the weather was not going to clear up or warm up. We were basically done, when it started to hail or drop Styrofoam balls; the precipitation was so light and dry, it just blew into piles up against anything on the ground. We took a few minutes to lock some things up and secure covers to help protect things over the winter months.
The very last thing we were doing was cutting a plastic cover to more easily go on and off the propane tanks on the trailer. I was using my Weatherman and was being very careful were I placed my hands and fingers and how I made the cuts through the thick plastic. I had visions of Kevin and his ax running through my head as I suddenly had a super close-up view of my thumb falling prey to my serrated edge. I was so mad that even being so conscious and trying to be so careful, I still sliced into me digit. It hurt. And bled.
I immediately pushed down on it with my middle finger to get pressure on the cut. Mike got some band aids right away and met me in the kitchen. The blood was dripping all over the deck in huge bright red spots. I rinsed it a little and then Mike got the band aids on really good and tight. It was still bleeding out of the band aids so we went for the massive pad of napkins taped on tightly with strips of duct tape. It weren’t pretty, but it was effective. It was throbbing like hell, but the pleading stopped and I felt like the wound was closed.
It was a shitty way to end the trip, but I knew it wasn’t a horrible cut and even though it hurt like hell, it just wasn’t that big a deal. As we embraced and said goodbye, I was still so happy with the trip; all that we accomplished, how easy and smooth it all went, the weather, food, drinks, laughs. It was just a great trip beginning to end. I tried to ease over our new and improved water bars the best I could on the way down the road. We locked the gate behind us and that was that. I felt like we would be back one more time this winter, but I was completely satisfied if that doesn’t happen.
Mike followed me into Susanville and we grabbed a not so quick chicken sandwich meal to get us home. The weather improved and dried up, so the ride home was easy and pleasant. Once we turned onto Highway 32, the colors and the sunlight were absolutely gorgeous all the way into Chico. It was stunning all along Deer Creek and Chico creek. The golden leaves fluttering to the ground and the wind swirled around. It was stunning. We pulled over in Chico to say goodbye as Mike would continue West on 32 to 5 so he could hit 505 into Vacaville. A final check of the load and we were off. Some of the orchards along 70 below Oroville also had some great color. It was a sweet ending to a great great trip.
The Hart Brothers rocked it!
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